International Decade for People of African Descent

George Floyd, an African American, was killed after being restrained by police in the United States.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

‘I am my brother’s keeper’, Philonise Floyd tells UN rights body, in impassioned plea for racial justice

17 June 2020
Human Rights

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday heard powerful testimony from the brother of George Floyd, whose death,  captured on video, while a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes in Minneapolis, has sparked worldwide protest.

Young women from the Caribbean island of Dominica.
UNDPLAC

UN human rights chief: racism and xenophobia are ‘contagious killers’ too

13 March 2020
Human Rights

The coronavirus outbreak may have forced millions around the world already into “social distancing”, keeping a metre apart to prevent its spread, but it will not stop them from uniting to combat racism, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared in Geneva on Friday. 

Ivan Šimonović.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

US acknowledgement of police brutality against African Americans “first step”

17 January 2016
General News

The acknowledgement by the United States authorities of police brutality against African Americans is a “first step” to addressing the problem, according to a senior UN human rights official.

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